Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature StudyOntario. Department of Education
Science
Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study
Ontario. Department of Education
Nature study; Science -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- Ontario
Pupils should review their gardening experiences and discuss plans of
improvement for the approaching spring and summer. Let them write
letters to the Form II pupils of other schools where similar work has
been carried on, and give some of their experiences in gardening and
other plant studies, and also in animal studies. A certain Friday
afternoon might be appointed for hearing the letters read which were
received in reply. Suitable short poems that have a direct bearing upon
the outdoor studies should be read from time to time. Good pictures also
come in here as an aid in helping the pupils to appreciate written
descriptions. The first-hand observations made by them will form a basis
for the better and more appreciative interpretation of these literature
selections.
For Observation Lesson on Weed Seeds, see page 171.
HOW ANIMALS PREPARE FOR WINTER
~Introduction.~--Discuss the preparations that people make for winter,
such as the storing of food and the providing of warmer clothes and
homes.
~Method.~--The teacher questions the pupils and encourages them to tell
what they have learned through their own observation of animals. The
knowledge of the pupils is supplemented by information given by the
teacher, but the pupils are left to find out more facts by further
observations. Thus:
Do you ever see ground-hogs out during winter?
What do they feed upon during the winter?
What is the condition of ground-hogs in late summer and in autumn?
What is the use of the great store of fat that they have in their
bodies?
Examine the snow near the burrows of ground-hogs and find whether they
ever come out in mid-winter.
_To the teacher._--The hibernating animals prepare a home or nest and
lay up a store of food in the form of fat within their bodies. To
hibernate does not mean the same as to sleep. The hibernating animals
have much less active organs than the sleeping animals. The heart-beat
and the respiratory movements are very slow and feeble, consequently a
very little nourishment suffices to sustain life.
SUMMARY OF LESSONS
(Two lessons of twenty minutes)
1. Some animals migrate:
Examples--many birds, butterflies, and some bats; the
cariboo, and buffalo.
2. Some animals hibernate:
Examples--bear, ground-hog, raccoon, frogs, toads, snakes,
and some bats.
NOTE.--Flies, mosquitoes, and some other insects crawl into
crevices and remain at rest during winter, but their bodies
are not stored with food.
3. Some animals build houses and store foods:
Examples--beaver, squirrel, chipmunk, honey-bee, deer-mouse.
4. Some animals build homes convenient to food:
Examples--musk-rat, field-mouse.
5. Some animals put on warmer clothing:
Examples--fox, mink, otter, rabbit, horse, cow, partridge,
chickadee. The rabbit and weasel turn white, a colour
protection.
6. Many insect larvae form cocoons or pupae cases:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account